Looking for some well-informed insider to disclose the highly complex yet secret formula behind Mechanicsburg’s decade-long string of soccer successes?
Just ask Matt Steele. He’s an appropriate spokesman.
“As [Mechanicsburg head coach Tony] Lougee’s told us all three years now, it’s really not about the individual soccer players,” said Steele, a senior midfielder. “Because a team like Mechanicsburg can’t make districts for over 10 years in a row or go to states just by having good talent.
“It’s because we play as a team and we outwork everyone, so that’s really what drives us. And every game is a battle. We don’t look ahead that far, we just take it one game at a time, that’s the biggest thing. It’s really helped us create a great program here.”
So, there it is.
Team play predicated on hard work — with more than a little talent sprinkled in — is why Lougee’s Wildcats have made 11 consecutive trips to the District 3 playoffs since 1999. During that stretch, Mechanicsburg has appeared in the state tournament four times.
And with the tireless, technically sound Steele organizing and operating nonstop in Mechanicsburg’s midfield, the Wildcats (16-8-0 in 2009) have a terrific chance to add to those impressive numbers again this season. Maybe even win a Mid-Penn Keystone Division title on the way.
“We’re just hoping to have a good finish that we can remember for a long time,” said Steele, one of Mechanicsburg’s eight tight-knit seniors.
Notice the emphasis on we?
All Wildcats players, from All-American Bobby Warshaw to Gaetano Panuccio to Matt Gawlas to assistant coach and former center back Sean Cochran, adhere to the Mechanicsburg creed.
Collective results are the only thing that matters.
“We’ve got to keep that in mind,” Lougee said. “We’ve got some good individual players, but it doesn’t matter. We talked a little [on opening day] about it, about what we want to accomplish as a team. We never talk about individual accomplishments. That stuff comes.”
That stuff has come for Steele, a first-team Keystone Division all-star and Patriot-News Big 11 selection who scored 18 points (6 goals, 6 assists) for a determined Wildcats side that last fall beat four opponents (every game was 1-0) just to finish third in the District 3-AAA playoffs and reach states.
Plus, since NCAA Division I programs at Siena and Lipscomb are intrigued, as is D-III power Messiah, more stuff awaits the personable Steele once he’s finished at Mechanicsburg.
Or, should we say, once Steele & Co. are done piling up victories.
“It’s instilled in all of us,” admitted Steele, who last spring qualified for the state track and field championships in the 400-meter run. “Whether you’re a freshman and learn it or you’re a senior like me, you’ve been through it many times. [Winning is] definitely all we’re looking for, that’s the big goal.
“It’s not to score 30 goals in a year or to make some team or something like that, it’s about Mechanicsburg winning. And that’s what we do.”
